Joan Develin Coley, the first president of McDaniel College to be promoted from the faculty ranks, joined the college in 1973 as an assistant professor in the education department. She went on to become the college’s first female academic dean, its first female provost and its first female president.

One of Coley’s first initiatives when she took office in 2001 was to change the school’s name from Western Maryland College to McDaniel College, which she says has “cleared misconceptions.” For many, the name implied that it was a public institution in the western part of the state, when, in fact, it is in Westminster in Carroll County. A Philadelphia native, Coley, 62, earned a bachelor’s degree from Albright College in Reading, Pa., and a master’s and doctorate in education from the University of Maryland.

Q Maryland has a plethora of great small liberal arts colleges. What makes McDaniel different?

A First of all, our location. We are accessible to both Baltimore and Washington. Second, we have a very strong tradition of student-faculty research. We have a tremendous number of students and faculty who do research together, and by the end of their time here, students will have published papers. We also have very strong internship programs. One of the things that most of our students do is either an internship or an independent study. So when they leave here, they actually do have some “real-world experience,” and that makes a big difference in the job market. And then we have a capstone experience in every one of our majors, which requires students to take the theoretical knowledge that they have studied and apply it. The application of knowledge is a hallmark of McDaniel.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Q What are the fundamental skills you want students to learn at McDaniel?

A One of the things — a cornerstone of liberal arts education — is that we provide small classes. We don’t have big lecture halls or teaching assistants. All our students get real professors in small settings. What that means is that a disproportionate number of students from liberal arts colleges end up in leadership positions. My supposition is, you can’t get lost in a liberal arts school. You are in a class, and if you’re one of 15, you can’t hide. When you are one of 500, you can hide. And I think at a liberal arts college like McDaniel, you have to learn to substantiate your position. So it’s not just that you have to have an answer, you have to have a reason for your answer.

Q Are there certain students who are better suited for a small liberal arts college than a bigger university?

A My bias says that we can accommodate any student at a liberal arts college, and that you are better off as an undergraduate to be a big fish in a smaller pond because it gives you a greater measure of personal growth. I think anybody who is talented and wants to succeed will succeed. Even students who don’t know what they want to do actually will find a mentor at a smaller school. It is not easy to get lost.

Q Many students may fit in at liberal arts colleges, but they are notoriously expensive. How does McDaniel help students pay the $37,540 tuition?

A We have incredible financial aid. Eighty-five percent of our students receive some sort of financial aid. And we actually use the same form that it is used with all the other colleges and universities. If a student fills out a financial-aid form and goes to a large university, we use the same form. So if it says the person can afford X, well, the person can afford X at the University of Maryland or here, and we make up the difference. Theoretically, students shouldn’t be paying any more here than they would be paying at a public university. And I think that’s a hard concept for students to understand — despite the sticker price, we are often no more expensive than a public university.

Q How successful are McDaniel graduates at getting jobs?

A The research tends to show that a liberal arts training really equips people for the range of jobs that they are going to have. Job training isn’t very useful because [you may] have 12 different jobs. So what you need to be trained for is the ability to learn, the ability to analyze, the ability to be a flexible thinker.

Q Traditionally, the majority of students at McDaniel have come from Maryland. Is that changing?

A Most colleges are regional, and we will probably remain regional — that is to say, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania. Generally, we have been about 70 percent Maryland, but we are less than that this year. We still expect to have a healthy number of students from Maryland, because we don’t want to throw the Maryland students aside. We simply want to enhance our out-of-state population.

FAST FACTS

» Founded: 1867

» Location: Westminster

» Enrollment: 1,600 students from 31 states and 11 countries; 55 percent women, 45 percent men

» Programs of study: 60

» Professors: 103 full-time professors; 95 percent hold the most advanced degrees in their disciplines

» Average class size: 17 students

» Student-faculty ratio: 12-1

» Total cost for ‘07-’08 school year: $37,540

» Fun fact: McDaniel has the only U.S. college campus in Budapest, Hungary

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

» Wade Kach, member of Maryland House of Delegates

» Wayne K. Curry, former Prince George’s County executive

» Nancy R. Stocksdale, member of Maryland House of Delegates

» Thomas Roberts, CNN anchorman

» Ellen Sauerbrey, assistant secretary of federal Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

» Ronald N. Young, former mayor of Frederick

Read the entire Examiner series on Maryland universities and colleges.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com